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Iraqis Protest To Demand Secure Jobs And Services

BAGHDAD (AP) — Protesters scuffled with riot police officers and marched along sewage-filled streets in demonstrations across Iraq on Sunday to demand better utilities and job security from their government.

The authorities estimated that several thousand protesters turned out in Baghdad, Basra, Ramadi, Mosul and a small town in eastern Diyala Province. They were galvanizing on popular uprisings across the Middle East to repeat longstanding complaints about Iraq’s limited electricity, shoddy water and sewage services and potential government layoffs.

“Our children have many diseases because of sewage problems and accumulated trash in the area,” said Ali Hassan, a resident of Boub al-Sham, where more than 1,000 protesters gathered amid stagnant pools of water and a stench of waste in the air. The Diyala town is about 15 miles northeast of Baghdad.

In the southern port city of Basra, around 1,500 demonstrators got into a shoving match with riot police officers who lined up to protect the provincial government headquarters.

A small delegation of the protesters met with Basra provincial officials to present a list of demands, including better electricity, more jobs and a crackdown on crime and corruption in the city, Iraq’s second largest.

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki announced last week that he would not run for a third term and that he would give up half his salary.

A version of this article appears in print on February 7, 2011, on Page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Iraqis Protest To Demand Secure Jobs And Services. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe